No charges over attack on Castleford Tigers’ CEO

A man arrested in connection with an assault on Castleford Tigers’ chief executive, Steve Gill, has been released with no further action being taken, police have confirmed.

Mr Gill was attacked early on Friday on Bridge Street, Castleford, just hours after his team demolished Leeds Rhinos, 66-10 at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

A 58-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack, but has since been released without charge.

Mr Gill, who has been recovering at home, thanked fans for their messages of support earlier today.

He said: “On behalf of myself and my family I would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of support with regards to an incident that happened to me last Friday morning.

“Although I’m in a fair amount of pain due to the nature of what occurred, I have been more concerned about the effect it has had on my family, and I sincerely hope it hasn’t taken the shine off the teams vibrant start to the 2017 Super League season.

“Moving forward, although the act towards me was inexcusable, I have been able to forgive so it enables me to clear my head from the negative thoughts these type of actions create, and I can move on.

“I would like to thank the emergency services and the general public who came to my aid on that morning, as I was laid in the street unable to move, for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Mr Gill has been associated with the club for almost 50 years after starting out by operating the scoreboard.

He held the role of assistant coach before becoming a successful head of youth in 2008, helping bring through the likes of Adam Milner, Oliver Holmes, Nathan Massey, Joe Westerman and Daryl Clark.

Four years ago he took over from Steve Ferres as chief executive, initially on a temporary basis, but then full-time.

He has overseen a dramatic rise in fortunes of the Tigers, whose win over Leeds Rhinos in front of a capacity 11,500 crowd on Thursday maintained their unbeaten start to the season and showed how far Cas have come in Gill’s time as CEO.